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Review
. 2022 Feb 15;25(3):103920.
doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.103920. eCollection 2022 Mar 18.

Space omics research in Europe: Contributions, geographical distribution and ESA member state funding schemes

Colleen S Deane  1   2 ; Space Omics Topical Team; Willian A da Silveira  3 , Raúl Herranz  4
Collaborators, Affiliations
Review

Space omics research in Europe: Contributions, geographical distribution and ESA member state funding schemes

Colleen S Deane et al. iScience. .

Abstract

The European research community, via European Space Agency (ESA) spaceflight opportunities, has significantly contributed toward our current understanding of spaceflight biology. Recent molecular biology experiments include "omic" analysis, which provides a holistic and systems level understanding of the mechanisms underlying phenotypic adaptation. Despite vast interest in, and the immense quantity of biological information gained from space omics research, the knowledge of ESA-related space omics works as a collective remains poorly defined due to the recent exponential application of omics approaches in space and the limited search capabilities of pre-existing records. Thus, a review of such contributions is necessary to clarify and promote the development of space omics among ESA and ESA state members. To address this gap, in this review, we i) identified and summarized omics works led by European researchers, ii) geographically described these omics works, and iii) highlighted potential caveats in complex funding scenarios among ESA member states.

Keywords: Astrobiology; Omics; Space medicine; Space sciences.

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Conflict of interest statement

DB is a cofounder of Poppy Health, Inc. and CSO of Yuri Gravity GmbH and declares additional affiliations at the NGS Competence Center Tübingen (NCCT), University of Tübingen, Tübingen and Yuri Gravity, Meckenbeuren, Germany. MFR declares additional affiliation at Diamantina Institute, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. The authors declare there are no additional competing interests.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1
Figure 1
Types of experimental studies co(funded) by ESA that have an omic component Studies are sorted by species/organism (A), (micro)gravity platform (B), omic assay (C), and transcriptomic assay type (D).
Figure 2
Figure 2
A map highlighting the European site of omics publications up until the first semester of 2020 (A and B) (A) and a map highlighting the site of omics publications co-funded by ESA between 2016 and the first semester of 2020 (B).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Number of ESA Life Science experiments performed per year by subdiscipline for the period 1980–2020 (data obtained from the ESA Erasmus Experiment Archive).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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